You Can’t Make This Stuff Up Dept.

Student government leaders at Loyola University Maryland faced a barrage of pressure from the university administration to change the theme of a senior class party described as “very alienating, divisive and harmful” and against the university’s “core values,” according to emails provided to The Daily Caller. The theme? America.

The theme for Loyola’s annual “Senior 200s” party — one of four celebrations exclusive to seniors held throughout the year — was based upon a survey of Loyola seniors taken last summer. The party was held on Nov. 18 and went off without a hitch, according to students who attended, despite warnings that the administration might have to get involved if students were offended....

The day after Trump’s victory, a handful of students messaged SGA representatives to argue that — because of Trump’s victory — an America-themed party was now inappropriate. One female student claimed she was “a victim of horrible hate words” and worried that similar mean things might be said at the party if the theme wasn’t changed.

When the possibility of unpleasant feelings wasn’t enough to cancel a class-wide event, the administration got involved.

The university’s executive vice president, Susan Donovan sent an email to two SGA members claiming she “talked with a number of students and heard from faculty members” about the party. “None of it is positive and it sounds very alienating, divisive and harmful.”

“I encourage you to reconsider this plan in light of the legitimate concerns raised by so many,” Donovan went on to say. “We have made progress in providing a welcoming climate on campus and do we want to reverse that progress with a theme that divides us?”...

[Dean of Students Sheila] Horton also said the administration would have to “deal with” any fallout from the party, which she worried would make students feel “unsafe.”

Is America a “theme that divides us?” Is America an “alienating, divisive, and harmful” idea? Is America, the country with the Statue of Liberty in its foremost harbor, calling to the world to “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” an idea that makes us feel “unsafe?”

Loyola University Maryland is a Catholic institution. Part of American Catholics’ annual contributions to our dioceses is put to the support of Catholic higher education. Do American Catholics consider America something that alienates, divides, or harms us? Does it make us feel “unsafe?”